donnybrook

regan

Before

November 17th, 2017

He went to every Blood Drive his school hosted.

Grayson didn't have friends to skip with exactly, he didn't have the balls to do it himself either, and the Blood Drive served as a personal excused absence after all. It at least felt like he was making up for lost opportunities of skipping class when he could be with friends, but instead of fucking off to the beach or at home, he can skip for an actual purpose. Yeah, so he went to every Blood Drive, but this was his first time seeing Regan here.

Regan was Brooklyn's friend, and he's seen her all of one time at a birthday party last year. She's beautiful, one of the prettiest girls in his class. Her face is full and her eyes are big and brown, given her nose was crooked, and her lips thinned in a permanent angry line when resting, but he liked the way she looked. He seemed to like the way a lot of girls looked if he had a chance with them.
Grayson was at least self aware of how miserable that made him sound, but being an outcast meant it was hard to want friends more than actual love.

Brooklyn was his friend, anyway. Her and Riley. Riley was.. he didn't really know. But she was his only friend before Brooklyn, and she would be perfect, but she let herself be too vulnerable. The girl was a small, frizzy brunette who was kind enough where he felt he couldn't exactly joke around with her. They weren't too close, of course, he didn't know her too well, or anyone at this school. He met the girl at band practice, and besides Eric and, well, now Brooklyn he guessed, she had been his only friend.

Still, Grayson knew that if Riley didn't have a boyfriend he would ask her out, and part of him really didn't want to ask, because being turned down would mean losing one of the only friends he has.

Brooklyn:
I mean okay.

He frowned,
What?

He sent it, and within the same minutes she texted back a mirrored response:
What.

Grayson looked back at Regan, he wanted so bad for her to look at him. They were in the same waiting room, and he had the sense to get up and go sit next to her.

But of course, he went back to texting Brooklyn about how pretty she was,
She's seriously so beautiful. I really like her.

And he really hoped Brooklyn would talk to her about it. He knew they were close and, Jesus he hoped he wasn't being weird. Well, he actually knew he must be, and knew he sounded desperate. But the only two people he knew were dating, and Regan was accessible through Brooklyn to an extent. It wouldn't be weird to talk to her, to start a conversation, if they had Brooklyn in common.

His phone buzzed,
Regan doesn't date.

Grayson chuckle bucked through his chest, and he tried again to look at Regan. She wouldn't look back. She seriously didn't see him? Everyone dates, Brooklyn.

And after a minute,
Not white guys. Not with her. Sorry bud.

Grayson yawned and stretched in his seat, eyeing down the girl. Brooklyn sounded too much like she was setting up an excuse. Fine, they were close and that was fine. But even if Grayson didn't have close friends to know what it was like to be protective over them, he knew that dating was normal.

A kid sitting near Regan got up when his name was called, and before he lost his nerve he trotted over and sat in front of her. She actually did look at him now, and gave a toothless smile that rose and fell. She looked away, and he said, "Are you scared?"

They were the only two in the room, so he didn't cringe when Regan's voice wasn't dropped in a whisper, "No."

He figured by now if he kept asking questions, she couldn't exactly ignore him.
"Oh, so do you do this a lot?"